Rural operations area director for the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service Warren Edwards yesterday urged people to avoid all fires, even if no fire bans were in place.

Meteorologists around Australia yesterday warned of heatwave conditions, but Mr Edwards says our fire risk here is not as severe as that in southern states, where summer is the dry season and the northerly winds are dry.

While Gympie region conditions are unusually dry for this time of year, we still have higher humidity and even our northerly winds tend to be moist, if also hot.

Weather watcher John Nairn says the late arrival of the monsoon season has added to the heat.

"The current heatwave is unusual due to its extent. More than 70% of the continent is currently experiencing heatwave conditions," he said.

"Low (earlier) rainfalls across much of the continent, along with the late arrival of the Australian monsoon have resulted in drier soils.

"Without the ability to remove latent heat through evaporation from moist soils, surface temperatures rise above normal, with the daily heating cycle building a deeper body of stagnating hot air over the interior."

Meanwhile, Heart Foundation national director of cardiovascular health Robert Grenfell said people with chronic disease, including heart disease should take precautions, as should older people, children and those engaged in strenuous work.